Tuesday, November 10, 2009

The Art Of Giving Thanks

If the only prayer you said

in your life was "thank you"

that would suffice.

Meister Eckhart

Happy Tuesday morn to everyone...sweet Tuesday morn...precious, un~crazy~busy Tuesday morn...a true calm~before~the~storm kind of morn...and it just happens to be a Tuesday. A perfect day to practice theart of giving thanks.

It is a wonderful art...giving thanks...and it will feed your soul like nothing else in the universe. How blessed are we that by celebrating the simplest of gifts in our lives....we are rewarded with the blessings of gratitude....pretty stinkin' lucky, Id say!

As I marinate in the somewhat calm days before Thanksgiving, I have, on purpose and with a full heart, slowed down and said ~ thank you.

It looks like Mother Nature is getting a jump start on decorating for the holidays!

This face is the ONLY thing that stands between her black lab life and the alternative...well let me put it this way...there is a reason God gave hyper and happy seven and a half month old black lab puppies cutie~pie faces....I'm just saying...

After a Northwest storm...

And the calm before another one...

Chores...but raking is fun~ner than folding laundry...

Peace...

I cannot help but give thanks...

No words...just gratitude...

Still...

My summertime burlap painted pillows...festooned for winter...

Garland...

Thanksgiving is the perfect holiday for decorating with found and gathered objects...you know, wonderful bits of this, that and the other which you have gleaned for that special "someday" project...

I took a cup~hook~a~rama and attached it to the inside of a kitchen cupboard door....

Then I swipped a gigantic spool of twine from the garage and hot glued it to the base of one of those cinnamon~y pine cones from the craft store and slipped some little wooden beads on the twine, tied a knot on the end and hung it from the cup hook~a~rama...

I plan on doing this on several of the cabinets...

I was making this in the middle of a Northwest thunder and lightening fall storm thus the light in these pictures isn't so great...

A Thanksgiving craft and a fun project on a stormy afternoon...

Both of which I am thankful for...

Enjoy these wonderful fall days before Thanksgiving....as for me, I am going to practice the art of giving thanks...living in the moment, finding joy and happiness in the simple and true things all around me...if I skip a beat and forget how to do that...all I have to do is look into this sweet face...she is grateful and happy and playful and joyful and lovable and I am sure...thankful every minute of the day.

Hi Ramona, thanks so much for your visit and your thoughtful comments. This is a beautiful post both your words and your photos. What you say is so true, we need to slow down and remember to take pleasure in all the simple, everyday things that make up the fabric of our lives--puppies, pinecones, thunderstorms all are things to be thankful for. I've been very deliberate lately about noticing and enjoying the small blessings in my life too.